December for mixed choir and two soprano saxophones (2018)

December was written in March, 2018. It was commissioned by Dr. John Leonard, director of Choral Activities at The College of New Jersey for the Centennial Celebration of the Music Department at TCNJ. The premiere performance featured members of the TCNJ Chorale and Collegium Musicum, as well as good friend Erik Johnson and myself on soprano saxophone.

From the Program Notes:

December is a piece about the very important experience of being part of a choir and communicating on a level with others that would otherwise be impossible. Choirs, more so than just about any other large ensemble, are capable of achieving a great degree of flexibility and unity that lend themselves to generating surreal experiences for those performing. The piece consists of two aleatoric sections designed to capture exactly this type of moment, with much of the piece beforehand serving as a sort of instruction manual on how to get there.